Morrisey hoping for ‘double victory’ against EPA anti-coal plan

CHARLESTON, W.Va. — State Attorney General Patrick Morrisey hopes for a “double victory” in the ongoing fight against the EPA’s power plans.

West Virginia is part of a 23-state coalition led by Morrisey that filed suit last week challenging the EPA’s plan to limit new coal-fired power plants. Morrisey and other attorneys general are already fighting the EPA’s Clean Power plan on existing plants.

The two challenges will continue on parallel tracks, Morrisey said Monday on MetroNews “Talkline.”

“Probably one of the most important things about this lawsuit is that if we win on our lawsuit pertaining to new coal-fired power plants we will also win pertaining to regulations pertaining to existing coal-fired power plants,” Morrisey said.

The EPA’s restriction on carbon emissions for coal-fired plants remains at the core of President Obama’s climate-change policy. To change the Clean Air Act, the EPA must prove the new standard has been adequately demonstrated, a point Morrisey refutes.

“The EPA is ultimately relying on technology … that’s never been shown to be viable on a commercial scale,” Morrisey said.

A carbon-capture plant project in Mississippi is into millions of dollars of cost overruns.

“It has at least cost $6.4 billion and it was supposed to cost $2.8 billion,” Morrisey said. “We think for that reason and many others the EPA has not met the legal standard.”

The latest legal challenge is in the Washington, D.C.-based federal appeals court.

“We’re trying to open up multiple fronts against the EPA,” Morrisey said, “so we can protect coal miners and their families and also ensure that the EPA meets its legal burden.”